A Second Chance
by dracarysdaenerys
Summary: Arya is traumatized after the terrible War for the Dawn. She is home, but a cost. She gets a second chance at happiness, but what she will make of it, is her own responsibility. [Previously titled "Invisible"]
1. Chapter 1

Arya sat in the Great Hall of Winterfell, moving her food around her plate and thinking of Gendry. She hadn't seen him in years now. He may well be dead, but somehow, she knew he wasn't. He was somewhere, alive. She wondered where. Maybe he was still in the Riverlands, or else he went back to King's Landing. For all she knew he could be in anywhere in Westeros from Dorne to the Wall. Except for Winterfell, he wasn't there. She'd asked and looked around for him, but no one seemed to know who he was.

She hoped he was safe, and she hoped even more that he was looking for her. But that would be a stretch, since he left her for the Brotherhood all these years ago. For him, it would be easy to find her. Everyone knew Princess Arya Stark of Winterfell was home. If she could, Arya would've been looking for Gendry all over Westeros and even Essos, but her sister wanted her at her side as her heir. Since Bran and Rickon were dead, Sansa and Arya were the last two trueborn Starks. Sansa had become much more accepting of Arya's interests since she came back. She let her wear her sword and wear tunics and breeches.

Even though Sansa had become a much better sister, Arya still missed Jon a lot. She had not seen him since she was nine and now, she had already been seven years without her dear brother. Sure, they had seen each other on the battlefields, but it had only been briefly and she and Jon had gotten separated in the battle. Afterwards he had had to go back to the Wall as soon as possible, as his friend Sam said. She thought it was time for him to come home, but he had felt the need to help his former brothers of the Night's Watch repair what they could after the war with the Others.

Arya herself had stayed back home, in Winterfell, to repair the mighty castle after all it had been through. Winterfell was a strong place with big walls, but even a place like that couldn't survive both an Ironborn and an Others attack without being repaired.

Arya still had nightmares of those creatures. They had killed her brothers and even two dragons of the Queen. Bran and Rickon had reappeared after Theon was executed by Arya herself. He hadn't struggled, because he knew what he had done was unforgivable. Arya hadn't found the task easy, but some things had to be done. He had betrayed the trust her brother had put in him.

After that traitor was dead and burned, Bran and Rickon had returned home. Bran had gone beyond the Wall and figured out his greenseer talents there. Rickon had gone to Skagos and refused to say a single word about anything that happened there. The Wildling who had taken him there, Osha, had revealed a little more. Judging from what Osha had told her, Arya thought she regretted taking a child there. After her brothers had returned, the Others had attacked. Arya had fought against them and their wights. She had killed countless wights, one Other and helped with taking down one of the ice dragons the Night King had created. Her brothers had wanted to see what was happening, but Arya had told them to stay in the crypts with the other children and the women who couldn't fight. They listened to her and only came out when Arya came to get them. When they came out, a group of wights attacked them. The wights were part of a last attacking wave of the Others. Arya had completely missed them. Bran, Rickon, a little girl and a woman died in the attack. Arya couldn't help but blame herself for their deaths.

Sansa had been down south to broker peace with the houses that betrayed them. Arya had killed most of the leaders of the houses already and left it to Sansa to figure out how to deal with the new leaders. She had returned home a month after the last Other was killed. She said she managed to get peace with most houses. House Frey had, surprisingly, been the easiest house to deal with.

Suddenly, she heard someone walking towards her. She looked up. A servant came towards her. He bowed and straightened his back.

"Her grace Queen Sansa wishes to see you in her solar immediately, my princess," he said.

Arya stood up and went to Sansa's solar. She found her sister waiting there for her.

"I received your message. What do you need to talk to me about, dear sister?" Arya asked. Sansa looked a bit worried.

"I got word from the Wall, Arya. It is almost completely destroyed by those damned Others. I cannot understand why they would do that. They also found the second dragon, dead. The Night King did not turn this Rhaegal into one of his slaves. Again, I cannot understand why they would do that. That is a dragon, for the Gods' sake! Wouldn't you want to turn one into your servant?" Sansa said. She held her heads in her hands and rubbed her face.

"Sansa," Arya said. "It will be alright. It is not necessary to build the Wall again, but if we wanted to, we could. That dragon will also be taken care of. Daenerys will fly here on Drogon and take her dragon with her back to the South. If she doesn't, I will take care of him." Arya hugged her sister and comforted her. Sansa knew she could cry and she did. The two sisters stayed together for the rest of the night. They cried together about their lost family and they laughed together about their youth of which they had wonderful memories. They remembered a time in which they were happy and safe. A time with their father and their mother, a time with Robb, Bran and Rickon. A time with direwolves and a time with a peaceful realm. That night, Arya went to sleep peacefully for the first time in a long, long time.

The next day, Arya woke up next to Sansa. She quietly stood up, because her sister was still sleeping. She walked down to the great hall and had some breakfast. She was done very quickly and then went to the training yard. There she found Meera Reed training with her daggers. Arya watched her for a while until Meera noticed her.

Meera saw who was staring at her and invited Arya to train with her. Arya accepted the invitation and got ready. While training, they chatted a bit, but that only distracted the two, so they went back to silence. After an hour, they decided to stop because they both had other things to do.

Arya went back to Sansa, who had woken up while Arya was outside. Sansa was dressed in one of her usual grey, yet formal dresses. The two sisters went to the throne room, because Sansa had her own duties. This week, many lords and ladies had arrived in Winterfell for an audience with the Queen, so every day had been a court day. Arya already saw many of them waiting. They went into the throne room and Sansa sat down on the Throne of Winter. Arya stood next to the mighty throne as Sansa's advisor. A herald opened the door and let the nobles in. The room was full within seconds. The herald announced Sansa's name and everyone bowed to their Queen and their Princess. The first lord came up to the front of the crowd and kneeled. The herald told them this was some minor Vale lord. Arya sighed. This was going to be a long day.

After the court, it was time for some food. Sansa let some come to her rooms and ate her lunch with Arya. Arya was very tired and knew Sansa was too, so they ate in silence. It had been a long morning and the afternoon wasn't looking any better. Thankfully, Sansa knew Arya wasn't cut out for this life, so she let her off for the afternoon. Arya decided to go for a ride on her horse. It was a beautiful spring day with a thin layer of snow covering the new, green grass. Arya was happy and couldn't feel more at home. She rode and rode until she knew that if she didn't turn around now, she would be very late for the feast that was being held that night. Now, she was just a bit late. Arya knew Sansa wouldn't be too happy about it, but Arya couldn't care less about this feast. It was just for some lords wanting to marry Sansa.

Everyone wanted to marry Sansa and happily give up their lands for her. It was harder to find a husband for her. She might have been a princess, but no queen and as the heir to the Queen in the North, her husband would have to give up his lands as well. When Sansa got a new heir, Arya would no longer be the heir and she and her husband would have no lands to go to. Arya knew Sansa would be willing and able to give her a castle, but most lords didn't.

Arya arrived at Winterfell from her trip and she knew she wasn't too late for the feast yet, as there wasn't much sound coming from the Dining Hall. She ran to her rooms and pulled on the tunic she had picked earlier. This way, she wouldn't look like a savage and still be comfortable. Sansa's words, not Arya's. Arya walked to Sansa's room, to see if she was still there, but there was no guard there, so Arya went to the Queen's solar. There, she did see guards, so she went in. Sansa was there, reading some report. Arya greeted her sister.

"Are you almost ready for the feast?" Arya asked. Sansa nodded and put down the report she had been reading.

"I am. Let's go."

They walked down the stairs, Sansa following Arya. Arya looked over her shoulder. Sansa was acting a bit weird, like she was hiding something. Arya entered the Dining Hall, where by now, most of the lords and ladies had gathered. The whole room fell silent. The sisters walked up to the main table and sat down. Sansa nodded and everyone sat down.

"My lords and ladies. I welcome you all to Winterfell and I hope you will enjoy your meal." Sansa said with her Queenly voice. People cheered and all started eating.

Sansa and Arya spend to night talking together. Sansa told Arya about the reports she had been reading and she apparently had gotten a letter from Jon, saying his services were no longer needed up North and he was preparing to go back North, so he would be home within a moon. Arya couldn't wait. Arya told Sansa about her riding trip, even though it wasn't a very interesting trip. They kept talking until the end of the feast, even though they were interrupted by some lords a couple of times.

That night, Arya went to bed peacefully for the second time in a long, long time.


	2. Chapter 2

Edit: it has come to my attention that this chapter uploaded wrong and was unreadable because of it. I hope this is better!

Jon was almost home. Her big brother was almost home. He finally arrived from the Wall. Seven awfully long years she had lived without him, and now she finally got to see him again. Arya was riding to meet him, since they had gotten a message that he was about half a day away. She drove her horse further and further until she could finally see his banner, a white wolf like Ghost on a grey background. She drove her horse faster, until she could see his face. He stopped the group he brought with him and jumped off his horse to meet her. She too stopped her horse and jumped off.

They ran towards each other and when they finally met, they hugged like they never had before. Jon still lifted Arya from her feet like he did when they were younger. She hadn't been this excited in years. Jon released Arya and neither could stop smiling.

"How are you?" Jon asked.

"As good as expected," Arya answered. Jon nodded. "And you?" She asked him.

"Relatively good," he answered. "Considering everyone we've lost fought against us as dead people…" Arya sighed. It had been very traumatizing to fight in a war where your loved ones fought against you after they were killed by the enemy. Arya knew it wasn't just her, everyone who saw the dead had the same feeling. A whole traumatized generation.

Jon walked back to his horse, and Arya walked back to hers. They caught up all the way back to Winterfell. They talked about their dead siblings, about their only living sibling, and about their friends. Who died, who lived, who fought best and who were known to both of them. Arya got to know Jon's friends: Sam Tarly, some guy named Edd Tollett and a leader from the Free Folk named Tormund Giantsbane. Sam and Edd used to be in the Night's Watch, but since the War for the Dawn was over, the order was disbanded. Sam was now lord of Horn Hill and married Gilly, a wildling girl.

They arrived at Winterfell, where Sansa was waiting for them. Jon jumped off his horse once again and hugged Sansa. By the time they parted, the whole company was already on the ground. Arya walked up to Sansa and gave her a quick hug. Jon looked slightly surprised but shrugged it off. Jon introduced his friends to his sister, and they all bowed to her.

"I welcome you all to Winterfell. I have already prepared chambers for each of you. I hope you will enjoy your stay. May I ask how long you are planning to stay?" Sansa asked.

"I'm sorry, my queen, but I'm not very sure yet. I do have to get back to Horn Hill soon, but I don't know about my friends," Sam replied. Edd too, replied that he did know. Tormund just shrugged.

Jon then left with his friends to give them a tour of the castle and show them to their chambers. Arya stayed behind with Sansa.

"What do you think of them?" Sansa asked her sister.

"I like them, I guess. Sam, or lord Tarly, is very smart and nice. He doesn't seem that brave, but Jon told me he killed an Other. Tormund is very rough, exactly what you'd expect from a wildling. Edd is a strange guy. He used to be a high-ranking commander in the Night's Watch, but he has no home to return to, and he has no idea what he wants to do with his life. I think Jon will want to give him a castle of some sort," Arya replied. Even though she had only spent half a day with their brother's friends, and she already felt like she knew them pretty well.

They walked back inside, where they separated. Arya went to her chambers to freshen up a bit. All day on a horse wasn't ideal for someone's hygiene. She cleaned herself up a bit and put on a relatively fancy tunic. She then went to the Dining Hall for dinner. Sansa was already there, just as Jon. His friends had yet to arrive. She sat down next to Jon at the High Table. They continued their chatting from earlier that day. They barely noticed Jon's friends sitting down next to them. They slowly ate their food, while still chatting.

It was when Sansa left that Jon and Arya realised how empty the Hall was and how late it was. They went to bed with the agreement to spar in the morning. Arya went straight to bed, because she was so very tired. She fell asleep the moment she dropped into her bed.

The next day, she woke up early, because she'd forgotten to close the curtains. Now it was spring, the days were becoming much longer. The sun rose earlier and thus Arya woke up earlier. She wasn't surprised to find the castle already quite busy. She put on her training clothes and grabbed her practice sword, a blunted tourney sword, and needle. She stopped by the kitchens to grab some breakfast and then went to the training grounds. She started shooting some arrows. She used all three targets that were standing there and randomly shot at each. Every single one hit the target. She heard some clapping behind her and looked around. Jon stood there, watching her. She laughed. Jon laughed back. She then shot an arrow towards him but aimed at the banisters. He was surprised, and his face was hilarious. Arya laughed so hard some guards looked around weirdly. While he recovered from the shock, he walked down to Arya, who switched her bow for her sword. Jon pulled a practice sword from one of the many stalls. They both took their stances and started fighting.

After two hours of training, they decided to quit. They hadn't fought two full hours, but some people like Meera and Tormund occasionally took either Jon's or Arya's place, so they could take a small break. Nevertheless, both were exhausted and went to put on a bit more formal clothes. Sansa had invited both to her court, so Arya decided to go for a full dress, although she wore breeches under them, and the dress was especially made so she could still fight in it.

They met up in the Gods wood, which looked beautiful with the thin layer of spring snow on it. They prayed a while in silence together and after half an hour, they went to court. Luckily, they were just in time to walk in with Sansa. The whole court stared at the only three children of Ned Stark left alive. Sansa went to sit in her Throne of Winter and Jon and Arya went to stand next to the throne. Sansa did her usual welcoming speech for the court and announced Jon's return. This was of course no surprise for most. Most girls seemed to swoon over him, and he was a good enough fighter to be noticed by the men in the training yard. That, and he was the prince.

The whole court was pretty boring. A lot of proposals for Sansa, but she icily declined most of them purely because the people offering her a marriage just had nothing to offer her. Arya got some proposals too, but most were just lords who Sansa declined. Jon smiled at her with a sad smile every time that happened. Luckily, court was more than marriage proposals, they also included minor conflicts. Arya got assigned to deal with one of them. She had to deal with a problem of house Woolfield, bannermen of house Manderly. Lord Manderly had been unable to deal with it, so he asked the Starks for help. She was bummed, because that meant she had to leave Winterfell a few days, which meant missing Jon again. Thankfully, Meera had to go to the Neck for a problem with the lords Blackmyre and Greengood. Her father had asked her to deal with them and return home after. Arya was happy she was able to ride with her friend and sparring partner for most of the way.

After court, it was almost dark. They went with Sansa to her solar to discuss some details of the trip they were about to make. She was to leave the day after the next and they still had a lot plan.

The following day mainly consisted of planning for her trip. Arya didn't understand how a simple trip south could take so much planning. All they needed to do was get a couple of soldiers to come along. Or so she thought. It turned out they needed way more. They needed to prepare horses, enough food and plan out the route they would be taking. It took all day to plan it all.

Luckily, she had managed to squeeze a short training with Jon in between meetings with Sansa. She had been distracted, so she lost dramatically. Jon gave her a slightly disappointed look, but he didn't say anything. The rest of the day just consisted of appointments with Sansa, Meera, the Maester and the commander of the guard. She was bored to death, but in the end, she managed to get through the day. That day, Arya went to bed very tired, but content with what they had achieved that day.

A/N] So I just wanted to say that I've had a rough week and I am sorry if this chapter isn't perfect. My grandfather is very sick and maybe even dying and someone in my town just ended their own life. I want to thank all of you for reading this story. Please follow/favourite and maybe even let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Arya was ready to go. She had prepared everything she needed and made sure all men tagging along knew what they were supposed to do. Meera was next to her on her own horse and Sansa and Jon had already said goodbye inside. All they were waiting for is one last man trying to prepare his horse.

"My apologies, my princess, for being late. My horse refused to be saddled and ran away. Luckily, I found another one willing to be taken. I asked someone to look for my horse," the man apologised after ten minutes. Arya nodded and told him to take his place.

Someone yelled "OPEN THE GATE!" and slowly the gate opened. Arya stormed through it, with her company behind her. Once they arrived at the King's Road, she slowed down her horse to ride next to Meera.

"Are you excited to go home?" Arya asked her.

"I am, but I'm also quite nervous. This will be the first time I'll be home after the war. I haven't seen my parents since my brother died, so I already know this will be hard. Plus, I don't know yet what I will have to do with the Greengoods and the Blackmyres. I have met them before and I know both have multiple sons and I don't doubt they will try to woo me," Meera answered.

Arya sighed. "I can't say I know what you're going through, but you will manage. You went beyond the Wall with a cripple and came back alive. You're strong, you can handle those lords and their sons," Arya told her. "I will visit you in the Neck. I don't know yet when, but I know I will. But first, we will go to our destinations. We still have two weeks together on the road before we have to split up. We will need to talk about something before I die of boredom. What are your parents like?"

"They talked about many, many things before the sun set. From Meera's parents the conversation went to Arya's parents, to their siblings, to Bran and Rickon and via many other subjects, they ended up talking about horses.

They kept the routine of talking endlessly going for all of the two weeks. They did stop at Cerwyn in the meantime, which was about five days riding from Winterfell: the closest castle to Winterfell and loyal bannermen of the Starks. They stayed the night there and went on.

Two weeks later, time had come for them to part. They hugged each other, which Arya weirdly didn't mind. Meera went further south, but Arya had to go east. She rode for another four days before she arrived at the castle of lord Woolfield. She rode through the gate, where the lord and his family were waiting. Arya jumped off her horse and walked to the lord. He bowed to her, just like the rest of the people waiting. She told him to rise and the whole castle stood up. He told her that the castle was hers and she nodded. They went inside after Arya proposed they discuss the problems.

Apparently, they were having a lot of trouble with a group of bandits. Many farms and villages had already been attacked by the group, and everything had burned down. The food and animals were taken, crops burned down, and every single person killed. The first attacks happened in the Barrowlands and they were moving towards White Harbour. Arya was to stop them and imprison them. Lord Woolfield provided her with more men and she had to ride out the next morning.

That morning, Arya and her men were ready before dawn. Lord Woolfield's men didn't show up until an hour after dawn. She sighed and rode out anyways. The last known raid had been in a village so small they hadn't bothered to name it. Arya rode there first, to inspect the village, to find out what sort of method they might have used. She found tracks going northeast, so she decided to follow the tracks in case they were useful to them. Luckily, it hadn't rained since they attack, so the tracks were still very visible. They tracked them for about three hours until they lost them. Thankfully, they were riding on a relatively clear road. The road had turned a bit more east than before and Arya suspected they were heading for the White Knife, the river ending at White Harbour. She didn't know what they'd do after reaching the river, but she suspected they would go to White Harbour. The group rode on and on to find the bandits. By the time the sun set, Arya ordered a camp be put up. They had enough food with them for a couple of days, and her men had shot a couple of rabbits for a delicious rabbit stew.

The next morning, they continued following the tracks. They came upon a village, one which was still burning. Arya ordered everyone to be quiet and be ready for a fight. They searched the village, finding only one living person. She was almost unconscious, but she was shaking and badly hurt. They tried their bests to save her, but she soon died. The woman was buried, and the group went on after the tracks. Arya heard something that could very well be a bandit camp and alerted the men of it. They got off their horses and bound them to a tree. One man stayed behind to watch the horses, while the rest came along with Arya. They sneaked towards the sounds and sure enough, there was a small town with a couple of houses and a group of not friendly looking men without any banners. There were a lot of horses and every man they could see was armed. Thankfully, she had taken enough men with her and all were armed very well. She signed that her men should surround the town, or at least the inn. She walked very quietly towards the biggest man. He had a big sword hanging at his back, and he looked strong and Arya had learned not to underestimate speed, so he could very well be quite quick.

On her sign, all her men attacked the bandits. The bandits were caught by surprise, which worked in their advantage. Arya had pulled Needle out of its sheath and held her sword in one hand and her precious Valyrian steel dagger in the other. She stabbed two men before engaging with the supposed leader. They fought, Arya being happy he was not very quick. She did get a few scratches, but he took way more blows. When she beat him, he was chained and taken away. The other men kept fighting after they saw their leader fall. Only problem was that he wasn't the actual leader. The actual leader came outside when he heard the fighting. He was bigger than the first man, and stronger. She went straight for him when he appeared. He seemed quite surprised a woman came to fight him and he probably thought that the fight he was about to have was little more than fighting a child. He swung his sword at her, which she easily dodged. She swung Needle at the man, and he was surprised that she was so quick and well-trained. He swung his sword at her feet, and she jumped over it gracefully. She then stabbed him with her dagger, which he hadn't seen before, because she had hidden it with her hand. He fell to the ground and many men saw him fall. They were shocked and most of them surrendered. The ones that didn't were executed by Arya herself. The ones that did surrender were chained and taken prisoner.

When they arrived at lord Woolfield's castle that night, she wondered why she was needed to solve this problem, as the task had only taken two days. Others could've done it, yet Arya had to go because both lord Woolfield and lord Manderly had both found the task too hard. She suspected Sansa had made her go here to be distracted from everything in her life and to get out of Winterfell's boring routine. Arya loved her sister, but she did not agree with this decision. A total of five weeks traveling was not worth a two-day bandit chase.

After the bandit's leader had been sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment, Arya left for home. She travelled the same way she had before, the only difference was Meera not being there.

Arya was very tired when she came home and wanted to go to bed to sleep at once, but she had her duties and went to Jon and Sansa first. She was happy to see her siblings once again together. Arya entered Sansa's solar and started to give a brief summary of her mission, but Sansa saw her sister falling asleep while talking, so she gave her permission to give her the report in the morning. After a quick dinner, Arya went to bed and fell into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, Arya suddenly woke up. She had had a wolf dream.

[A/N] I'm very sorry, but the chapter uploaded wrong once again... I'm really starting to get annoyed.


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